eReaders killing off Publishing Industry.
PC Speed on May 3, 2011 – 7:02 am -A new report indicates the devices could kill off the publishing industry
The book industry has entered a period of long-term decline because of the rising sales of e-book readers. which predicted a decrease in book revenue at a annual rate of 3% through 2014. This is the opposite from the years between ’05 and ’10 where revenue rose.The industry has entered a phase of disruption that will be as monumental as the movie and music business.
The study goes on to predict that paper book sales will decline at a rate of 5% a year. e-book sales will rise during that same period but the increase won’t cover the revenue gap created by the losses in the paper book market. eweek
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By Temple on May 4, 2011 | Reply
How does a decline of 3% in each of the next couple of years equal “killing off the industry?” Remember that the publishing industry is all about creating compelling content, not about selling paper and ink. If the medium changes from print to digital, fine, publishers will not be “killed off” but rather the content they produce will be delivered via a different medium. This strikes me as ill-informed sensationalism, not journaliam.
By Soldevilla on May 4, 2011 | Reply
Amen, Temple. In the 80′s “they” predicted that there would be no more books. As you point out, publishers are not printers, they are editors, distributors, marketers, selectors of content. But it is true the business model and the economics will go through an evolution and already are.
By John Schulte on May 4, 2011 | Reply
Are you suggesting that publishers get smart along the lines of what William Durant did when he partnered with Louis Chevrolet and turned his buggy manufacturing concern into a car company? Or the way typewriter makers transformed into word processor makers and computer manufacturers? What are you saying?! That in order to survive in business you gotta change with the times? I wholeheartedly agree. Publishers that don’t get it and adapt don’t deserve to be in the publishing business. Record companies are doing the same thing in the music industry: witness the attempt to shift the financial model to paying for content based on the device that holds the content. Like software licensing. No longer are consumers going to “own” content. They will be “licensing” it. And if net neutrality fails under the guise of pushing innovation from broadband carriers, then we’ll be getting only the content that makes sense for that provider (i.e, Comcast will play favorites to NBC). These superficial articles about devices killing industries are silly. Technology keeps chugging ahead: what’s missing are smart people to figure out how to make the business sense of it all viable across the supply chain. We need innovation in business strategy and marketing! Remember when people were scoffing at 99 cent downloads? How about 15 cent downloads and streams, per device? Make digital copying unnecessary because the price point is irresistible — which will only serve to increase sales exponentially. I think.
By Terry Snow on May 4, 2011 | Reply
Come on, people.
NEWS The printing press is going to kill off the quill and parchment…
NEWS The car is going to kill off the horse and carriage…
But writing and reading spread and travel and transport increased.
It sees to me, in the global e-revolution of the computer and Internet age, we are riding a wave of change that is equivalent to the surge brought about by the Industrial Revolution in the 18th-19th century.
It’s an exciting time.
Terry Snow, editor of a print-on-paper magazine
By Linda Lavid on May 4, 2011 | Reply
Have to agree with Temple. Medium is different but that’s about it. In fact, due to ease and cost, when readers transition to e-readers, they download more books than when they purchased hard copies. E-books are a boom to the industry. Problem is commercial publishers, like print newspapers, need to change their production and delivery model to keep up with technology and cash in.
By Tom Wright on May 5, 2011 | Reply
If I choose to read my John Grisham novels on my Amazon Kindle, have I stopped paying either the publishers or John Grisham? The answer, categorically is ‘no’, making that the suggestion that ‘book’ sales are stuffed rubbish. Now if you’re talking about the book shop-front in retail that’s a different matter.
Yes, the book industry will face the some of the same challenges that the music industry has faced, but I rather doubt it will be to the same extent, as the target audiences are wildly different – book sales are not dominated by 16-24 year olds and although they will suffer from illegal downloading, its rather unlikely to be to the same extent.